Does structured data help my business show up in Google?

Structured data helps Google understand what your page is about and makes the page eligible for enhanced display in search results. It does not guarantee that display, and Google says so in its own guidelines. Anyone who tells you a block of code will put you on top is selling something Google does not sell.

What structured data is

Google defines it as "a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying the page content" (Source: Google Search Central). In practice it is a small block of code in the page's head, written in a vocabulary called schema.org, that states in machine-readable terms what the page already says in words: this is a business, this is its name, this is its address, these are its hours.

Google supports three formats and marks one as preferred: JSON-LD, which it describes as "A JavaScript notation embedded in a <script> tag" (Source: Google Search Central). That is the one we use. It sits in one place, it does not touch the visible HTML, and it is the easiest to check.

What Google does with it, in Google's words

"Google uses structured data that it finds on the web to understand the content of the page, as well as to gather information about the web and the world in general" (Source: Google Search Central). For a local business, the relevant type is LocalBusiness, which schema.org defines as "A particular physical business or branch of an organization" (Source: schema.org). The trades have their own subtypes under HomeAndConstructionBusiness: Electrician, GeneralContractor, HVACBusiness, HousePainter, Locksmith, MovingCompany, Plumber and RoofingContractor (Source: schema.org).

Google's LocalBusiness documentation lists two required properties, name and address, and recommends among others telephone, openingHoursSpecification, geo and priceRange (Source: Google Search Central). The same page describes where this can surface: a knowledge panel when someone searches for the business, and a carousel when someone searches for a type of business (Source: Google Search Central).

What it does not do

Read this sentence from Google's guidelines twice: "Google does not guarantee that your structured data will show up in search results, even if your page is marked up correctly." (Source: Google Search Central.)

So the honest answer to the title is: it helps Google understand you, it makes you eligible for the richer result types, and nobody, including us, controls whether Google chooses to show them or where your page ranks.

Two more rules from the same guidelines matter for a trade site. "Don't mark up content that is not visible to readers of the page." And "Your structured data must be a true representation of the page content." (Source: Google Search Central.) If the markup says you are open Sundays and the page says you are not, the markup is wrong and can be ignored or worse. Fake reviews in markup are named specifically as misleading content.

What a plumber's block looks like

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "Example Plumbing",
  "telephone": "+15185550100",
  "url": "https://www.your-domain.com/",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "1 Main Street",
    "addressLocality": "Colonie",
    "addressRegion": "NY",
    "postalCode": "12205"
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": {
    "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
    "dayOfWeek": ["Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday"],
    "opens": "07:00",
    "closes": "17:00"
  }
}
</script>

Every value in that block must also appear on the page as text a person can read. That is the whole discipline.

How to check yours in two minutes

1. Open Google's Rich Results Test and paste your home page address. Google describes the tool's purpose plainly: "Put structured data on your page to enable special features in Google Search results, then test it with the Rich Results test." (Source: Google Search Console Help.) It reports which types it detected and any errors.
2. On a laptop, view the page source and search for application/ld+json. No match means no structured data in the recommended format.
3. Read what it says against what the page says. Name, address, phone, hours. Any mismatch is a fix.

Next step

If the test finds nothing, or finds errors, structured data is the first item in Search and AI Foundations: LocalBusiness, Service and FAQ schema, an answer page built from real customer questions, your Google Business Profile completed, AI crawler access set, and Search Console verified with the sitemap submitted, for $650. We report the before and after on every item and we promise no ranking, because nobody can. Details at /services#aeo.